Guggulsterone sensitized drug-resistant human hepatocarcinoma cells to doxorubicin through a Cox-2/P-gp dependent pathway.

Guggulsterone sensitized drug-resistant human hepatocarcinoma cells to doxorubicin through a Cox-2/P-gp dependent pathway. Eur J Pharmacol. 2017 Mar 23;: Authors: Xu HB, Fu J, Huang F, Yu J Abstract Previous researches indicated that cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) might be involved in P-glycoprotein (P-gp)-mediated multidrug resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Doxorubicin-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma PLC/PRF/5 cells (PLC/PRF/5R) and HepG2 (HepG2R) cells were developed in the present study. The modulatory effect of guggulsterone on Cox-2 and P-gp in PLC/PRF/5R and HepG2R cells was investigated. Cells proliferation, Cox-2 and P-gp expression, and prostaglandin E2 release were examined using MTT, flow cytometry, western blot and ELISA assays. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeted against Cox-2 and multidrug resistance protein (Mdr-1) was used to regulate the expression of Cox-2 and P-gp. The results showed that co-administration of guggulsterone resulted in a significant increase in chemo-sensitivity of PLC/PRF/5R cells to doxorubicin, as compared with doxorubicin treatment alone. When doxorubicin (10µM) was combined with guggulsterone (50µM), the mean apoptotic population of PLC/PRF/5R cells was 20.16%. It was increased by 1.5 times, as compared with doxorubicin (10µM) treatment alone. Furthermore, guggulsterone had significantly inhibitory effect on the levels of Cox-2, P-gp and prostaglandin E2. However, guggulsterone d...
Source: European Journal of Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Eur J Pharmacol Source Type: research